Case Study Artsana

The right information now readily available and development times slashed by 20%

Case Study

Company Background

A "Solid passion for Life": This is the distinctive trait of the Artsana Group. Started as a family business in 1946 by Pietro Catelli, the Artsana Group has grown to become a €1.4 billion turnover business with over 7000 employees, across 8 production plants and in 21 subsidiaries, 14 of which are in Europe.

The group is comprised of two business areas: Baby and Health & Beauty Care. Among its best known brands are Chicco, Prénatal and Boppy for the Baby Care division; PiC, Lycia, Serenity, and Control for the Health & Beauty Care division.

Supply Chain Context

The collaboration between TXT and the Artsana Group revolves around the fashion side of the Chicco brand. Artsana is in charge of all aspects of the collection lifecycle (apparel and shoes): From "concept" to the execution – namely prototyping, fitting, sampling and production. In each of these phases the attention to quality and product safety is a top priority for the group. The four apparel and two shoe collections are distributed worldwide through a retail network comprising of branded stores, department stores and baby shops; combined these efficiently serve the most far and diverse global markets.

The Challenge of Artsana Group

The growth of the Chicco fashion area over the years pushed the Artsana Group to strongly examine the potential of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions. The group was looking for a tool that was not only fashion orientated but also scalable as the business grew. In an evolving business such as Artsana, the availability of a flexible solution that could adapt to the extremely tight timelines that the fashion business requires was a critical factor. The new tool would need to support the apparel division with the ability to extend into the Shoes and Accessories division later on. An efficient PLM solution would help the Chicco fashion area to overcome all of the classic limitations of a non-centralised management of information:

Different sets of data and time spent
on the consolidation of information

Lack of standard SKU codes among different functions

Errors and difficulties in tracking all updates (no one version of the truth

Why TXT?

Started in February 2009, the software selection by the Artsana Group led to the choice of TXT's PLM solution; the group recognised the perfect match between TXT and the functional requirements of the fashion business. Furthermore, Artsana saw the flexibility of the tool that was able to adapt to the organisation's requirements today and evolve with them as needed over time.

The Project

The project was ambitious not only because of the inner complexity of the fashion business (SKU proliferation, a variety of styles, processes involving many functions), but also due to the need to replace the old PLM system very quickly. This meant there was little time to migrate all of the product data; this included moving the in-progress collection data from the old to the new system with no disruptions for the users and no delays in time to market. The joint effort of the Artsana and TXT teams enabled the group to experience the go-live of the new PLM system in the Apparel Division (Italy and China) within 4 months. Since then the Shoes Division has gone live after only a few weeks, in November 2009.

Specifically, TXT's PLM solution supports the Artsana Group in:

Managing all master data: Prior to the implementation of TXT, Artsana's users worked on 3 different systems (a tool specific to Master Data Management, the company ERP system and the former PLM tool). With the adoption of TXT and the ability to manage master data within the solution, users now access all collection information in one single environment which is perfectly integrated with SAP AFS;

Technical documentation management: Grading forms, fitting forms and packaging data are all created, shared and maintained throughout the system;

Workflow Management: This embedded functionality allows modeling the activities to be carried out for each season along with progress monitoring. The completion of one activity can be automatic – for example upon the approval of a technical worksheet or manual, a declaration of completion can be made by the user. The fashion business then has full visibility over the progress of activities and possible issues at each step; in light of the challenges of the fashion industry this is a great step forward. Today after just a few months from the project starting the results are laudable:

Processes are streamlined – the software perfectly matches with the needs of the fashion business; this means smoother processes and the ability for users to focus more on value adding activities. More specifically times for the elaboration of inputs for product development have been slashed by 20%;

Security of information and one version of data across functions; reduced duplications, misalignments and errors reduced by approximately 20%;

A simple and intuitive interface with powerful filtering capabilities has simplified the users' daily operations ensuring great satisfaction across all teams;

Motivation and enthusiasm for the project; from the top end management to the end users. For the group this translates into the ability to leverage the current results to foster a culture of continuous improvement. The commitment of the top management, the fashion division and its users, together with the proven project methodology of TXT are recognised as the key ingredients of these results. Currently the system is being used by over 100 people in Italy and China, including: Product managers, buyers, planners and in the quality control and technical departments. At the same time new and important extensions to the project are currently in progress and are on the agenda.

Objectives

Reduce time to market

Streamline processes

Integrate business functions across geographies (italy and china)

Coordinate data management and improve communication among the apparel and Shoes divisions

A single data repository across the entire collection lifecycle

The TXT Solution

TXT product lifecycle management

Results

Reduction of product development timeS by 20%

Design errors reduced by 20%

Streamlined collection development processes

Customers Speak

The project has already produced important results in terms of streamlined processes, one version of data across functions, development times reduced by 20%. Aside from the benefits themselves, what makes us proud is also the speed with which these benefits have been achieved. The commitment of the Artsana Group, together with the proven project methodology of TXT has allowed us to meet every milestone and deadline we defined.